King's Knight
by Protoman 0
Summary: The king of Soul Society, with foresight of a dark future, sends in his most trusted knight and friend. Will his appearance tip the scale of the upcoming conflicts on the side of our heroes? Ichigo X Harem, OC X Harem
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters but my original character. The rest of them all belong to Kubo Tite. Bleach © Kubo Tite.**

**King's Knight**

_When the king deems his forces against evil not enough, he sends in his most trusted subordinate and friend. How will those with evil ambitions handle this curve ball?_

**Chapter 1 : Shinigami Daigo (Substitute Shinigami) Born, Knight Enters**

_**In Another Dimension**_

Inside a room that resembles the throne room of a Japanese feudal castle, a man on the throne spoke in a solemn tone. "With the bigots that currently are in charge of Soul Society that I was once proud to call my own, I cannot trust them to run things as they are. As foolishly blind as they are now, they will not be ready for what is to come. That is why I am counting on you to step in whenever things appear out of hand."

Answering back was a man in a shinigami (death God) taicho's (captain's) outfit, with the kanji of the word 'zero', strangely enough. "Yeah, I've got it pal. Seriously though, why do you insist talking in that gloom-and-doom tone? I thought I told you to get that stick out of your ass and speak like a normal person. Just because you're the king of Soul Society doesn't mean you have to act like an old geezer."

The king sweatdropped and the female vassals that were sitting next to the king blushed at his words. "Sorry about that, but can you watch your language with ladies present? Sometimes I wish you would speak a little more like me. Anyway, I'm counting on you my friend. As king, I can't come as go as I please. But with your status, you can come and go as you please and only answer to me, not that you do much."

The shinigami laughed in reply, "Yeah well, you know me. I take people's words when they're good advice, and I tell them to shove it when they're not. Anyhow, I should be going. I won't be in contact with you much since telepathy from that long a distance is such a headache, but I'll let you know if something big comes up, as if you miss anything with that stupid foresight of yours though."

The king couldn't help but join in laughter as well. "Too true. Well, I would say good luck, but with your level of strength, I doubt that you would need it. Do try not to flaunt it though, you have no limiter after all."

The shinigami nodded and answered, "I know. It would be fun, but the cleanup's a bitch. Besides, I don't want to stick out as a sore thumb… too much. Later!" With that said, a portal appears behind the man and he disappears through it.

The king's smile faded and returned to a serious look. "I know what I said, but good luck, my knight and dearest friend. You may need it more than you think. Good luck."

_**Karakura Town, Just Outside of Ichigo's House**_

Ichigo's standing tall, zanpakuto in hand, half-hanging on his shoulder. Rukia couldn't help but looked in amazement as Ichigo made it look as if he's been a shinigami his whole life with the way he expertly defeated the hollow that was giving her such a hard time. Just as she was about to speak, a portal appeared out of nowhere, and out came a man in a squad captain's outfit that she has never seen before. Ichigo immediately took a defensive stance and asked in a hostile tone, "Who the hell are you?"

The said shinigami looked at the two and smiled, "Ah, sorry about that. Looks like my timing was bad. You can put down your sword pal; I'm no enemy of yours. I have fancy titles, but for now, you can just call me Liu Yuuki, nice to meet you."

**Please read and review, thanks.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters but my original character. The rest of them all belong to Kubo Tite. Bleach © Kubo Tite.**

_Author's Note : I just wrote the first chapter last night and already I got two reviews, thanks. I'm hoping to see more. I want this fic to be as fan-interactive as possible. With that said, I'm not going to be able to fulfill every demand that fans have, but I will take them all under consideration, flame or not. And to answer the first question, it's before the Soul Society arc. I plan to have my character intervene from the very beginning. I'll try to stick to the canon plot as much as possible, with some minor changes along the way. Obviously though, I won't be able to remember every canon detail in the anime and manga without a photographic memory, which I don't have, so feel free to correct me if you found something out of place. Continue to R & R, thanks._

**King's Knight**

**Chapter 2 : Heritage Revealed, First Day on the Job**

The two were staring at the man with a look of surprise for different reasons : Ichigo for the friendliness of the guy, despite his mysterious entrance, Rukia for seeing a guy who looks like a squad captain, but that she knew nothing about.

Yuuki started to wave his hand in front of the two who were still gawking. "Hey, hello. Are you two there? I know it's not everyday that you see a guy jump out of a portal, but don't you think we should check on the kids and the house first?"

Ichigo snapped out of his stupor at hearing that and said, "Oh yeah! In all the excitement, I almost forgot! Karin! Yuzu!" He yelled their names as he ran inside the wreck of a house that was in one piece.

Rukia, while feeling helpless without her powers, continued to stare at the man with distrust. "I know you told us your name, but other than that, who are you? Why are you in a squad captain's outfit with 'zero' in the back? Even if you're a real squad captain, there are only thirteen squads, how is it that I never met you before?"

Yuuki scratched the side of his face with his forefinger, another habit of his as he answered, "Yare yare, you're pretty sharp, aren't you Rukia-san? I'll answer all your questions later, but for now, I'll tell you that like the special forces, I'm from another special division, hence why you've never heard of me. As for proof that I'm a real shinigami, here's my badge." He holds up the said item. Once Rukia nodded, seeing that it was the genuine article, he continued. "You broke quite a rule there, risking yourself to save Strawberry-san over there. As for how I know who you are, as a shinigami, I'm obliged to know anybody who I may work with in the future. Now, before we talk anymore, why don't you repair the damage to the house while I take care of the kids? Don't worry about what they saw yet, just fix the house for now. In case you were wondering, I DO outrank you, so I'd appreciate it if you do as I ask for now. Meanwhile, the old man there and I need to have a chat. Come out Isshin-san." Right as he said that, out came Ichigo's father, holding a bag of groceries while smiling sheepishly at being caught.

"It's been a while, hasn't it kid?" said Isshin.

"Yeah old man, but let's take care of the kids first. Come on Rukia-san, you can make your call inside the house," said Yuuki, as the three walked inside the clinic.

_**Inside the Kurosaki Clinic**_

Ichigo and Rukia watched in amazement as uses an energy with a strange green glow to heal the two children while they lie unconsciously on two beds. Rukia was surprised because it wasn't the same as the way Squad Four members treat the wounded. Isshin didn't look surprised at all, knowing that Yuuki had a tendency to hide his techniques until he needed them.

Ichigo looked at Yuuki with a grateful look as he said, "Thanks a lot for doing whatever it is you just did to help them. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo," with that said he held out his hand.

Yuuki smiled back warmly as he accepted the handshake, "You're welcome Ichigo-san. It was a medical jutsu. I'm a shinigami, but those aren't my only abilities. So you're Isshin's kid huh? What were the chances of running into you the moment that I enter this town eh?"

Ichigo looked surprised as he turned to his dad and asked, "Jutsu? What are you, some kind of ninja? And old man, you know this guy?"

Isshin had no choice but to answer back, seeing as how Yuuki blew his cover. "Yeah, I met him when I was younger. Why don't we take this to the kitchen or the living room after you get back inside your body and your girlfriend inside a gigai? It's weird talking to you like this."

Ichigo did as he was asked while Rukia looked at Isshin in surprise that even Ichigo's father can see her. Yuuki put his hand on her shoulder and said, "You can look shocked and ask questions later Rukia-san, just get in a real body first and we'll take it elsewhere. Those two kids need their sleep after what just went down."

Rukia could only nod and obey as the four walked to and sat down on the sofa seats in the living room. Rukia asked Yuuki first, "What about you? Shouldn't you get into your gigai? Or don't you have one?"

Yuuki smiled at her question and replied, "Nah, I don't need one. You see, while I am a shinigami, I'm not dead yet, so all I have to do is this." Right after he said that, a flash appeared and Yuuki was back in human form, in a grey T-shirt and a pair of jeans instead.

Ichigo looked confused, with all this new information that he didn't fully understand and asked, "All right, what's going on here? I kind of get why that thing attacked our house, but why does dad know another one of you shinigamis or whatever? And what did Yuuki mean when he told you-" pointing at Rukia "-to fix the house? How the hell can you do that by one call?"

Yuuki smiled with a nod in understanding Ichigo's confusion as he answered, "One question at a time Ichigo. But I can answer all of them for you. First, to answer your question about that jutsu, I'm not a real ninja or anything, it's just one of those things I learned here and there. I can teach you later if you want, seeing as how your reiatsu's so high that it's leaking off you constantly. Second, your dad knows me because he used to be a squad captain himself." At this, Ichigo and Rukia looked shocked, for reasons of their own : Ichigo was surprised that his dad also had such powers and never told him, and Rukia for not having ever met him or detected the truth by his reiatsu. Isshin nodded as confirmation to what Yuuki said. "It's true, I was a squad captain. I remained a shinigami until the day I met and fell in love with your mother. I then decided to stay in the human world and marry her. I never told you this because I didn't want any of you to be involved in something so dangerous, but it looks like fate decided otherwise. Plus it looks like all three of you inherited some of my powers too."

Ichigo could only nod in understanding as to why his old man never said anything. That monster called a hollow was powerful and nearly killed his whole family until Rukia showed up. He then turned to Rukia and asked, "What about that phone call thing? What's that all about?"

Rukia sighed as she had no choice but to explain, "Basically, damage in the real world from our fights with hollows is inevitable. So where we come from has the capabilities to reverse the damage and erase the memory of those who saw anything about us or hollows. As you notice, after I made a quick call earlier, the house is already back to normal, and nobody else in the neighborhood remembers about what happened earlier."

Ichigo looked around, seeing the damage to their house already gone and no commotion outside, nodded again, absorbing the information while amazed at what these shinigami can do. He then asked Rukia again, "So what now? Aren't you going home or something? And what about Yuuki here? Why is he here?"

Yuuki turned to Ichigo and answered, "Well, Rukia-san can't very well go home, seeing as how you have all her powers. It's actually a taboo for a shinigami to give his or her powers away like that. She must have a crush on you." At that, Yuuki laughed, Isshin started bawling in happiness and began to mutter about having grandchildren soon. The other two blushed, and Ichigo then bashed his father, telling him to shut up. Rukia, looking a little indignant, said, "That's not true Liu-taicho (captain)! I don't have a crush on this idiot! He just reminded me of somebody I used to know…"

Yuuki looked sad for a second as he replied, "Kaien you mean?"

Rukia was once again surprised that her mysterious superior knew her beloved ex-fukutaicho (ex-lieutenant) and asked, "You knew Kaien-dono?"

Yuuki nodded as he smiled sadly, "Yeah, I knew him. We were academy classmates. But because I'm no ordinary shinigami, we didn't see each other much after we graduated. I only wish that I was there to save him from that piece of trash that did him in. If I was there, he and his wife would still be here." He gripped his hand in a fist as the sad memory angered him. He then changed his tone, "I can see why Ichigo reminds you of him. Change the hair color and you have practically a carbon copy of him, their personalities are so alike too," said Yuuki with a smile as he looked at the father and son fighting. "But enough about that, there's no point in dwelling about the past. Whatever you feel about him is your problem, but I tell you this. If he's anything like Kaien, I'm sure he has somebody besides you after his heart. So figure out how you feel and go after him if you feel that way. Oh and, if you were under Kaien's command, why the hell are you calling me taicho? I hate fancy formalities damn it, just call me Yuuki, or if you must, use –san or something."

Rukia couldn't help but look in wonder as how her superior's mood changed so much in such a short time, and nodded in agreement as he finished speaking. "Very well Yuuki-san. So what do we do now? As you've said, I can't go back to Soul Society without being severely punished, and we have no place to stay."

The Kurosakis stopped fighting at hearing that. Isshin immediately said, "You're more than welcome to stay here if you like, but you'll have to help around the house. Rukia-chan can stay in the same room as Ichigo, you can even make all the noise you like, because I want some grandchildren soon. Hohohoho!" Isshin then started dancing like an idiot, paper fans and all. Ichigo then kicked his father in the head, yelling, "No fricking way you dirty old man! A girl shouldn't stay in my room, especially not Shorty here!"

Rukia showed a vein on her forehead at hearing the insult and stomped Ichigo in the foot, making our dear hero jumped around on one foot in pain. She then said, "I'm not short idiot! And who said I'm staying in your room anyway? Isshin-sama, don't you have a guest bedroom or something for me to stay in?"

Isshin couldn't help but cry in joy as he ran over and held Rukia's hands. "Of course Rukia-chan. But two engaged people shouldn't be shy about sleeping in the same bed. And please call me dad. After all, we're family now!"

Rukia and Yuuki couldn't help but sweatdrop as Ichigo grabbed his father and tried to strangle him. Yuuki then coughed and the two men fighting stopped as he spoke, "Well, that's that then. I can stay in my room in my pocket dimension for now. I'll start looking for an apartment after school tomorrow." Looking at the shocked face of Ichigo, Yuuki continued as he proceeded to explain. "Yes, we're going to go to high school with you, seeing as how I'm your age and Rukia-san looks the part so we can keep an eye on you." Ichigo and Rukia showed a vein as he continued. "What I mean by keeping an eye on you is that with her powers, you have to do her job in her place, at least for now until I can figure out how to help her regain her powers without getting in trouble. We can tell you when hollows are attacking, and I can cover for you two while you run off to do the job. I'll even show up to back you up in case you end up running into something out of your league."

The two reluctantly nodded, but Ichigo said, "But what do you mean out of my league? I handled that hollow just fine back there, didn't you see my kick its ass?"

Rukia punched him in the word at his rudeness and said, "Watch what you say to Yuuki-san. He doesn't wear a squad captain outfit for no reason."

Ichigo, rubbing his head, asked, "What do you mean?"

Yuuki smiled at the two's antics and replied, "It's no big deal Rukia-san. I won't make this too complicated, but how a shinigami is ranked is based on how well he or she can use her powers, mainly his or her zanpakuto, or the sword you were using earlier. I know that you had a huge blade, but that was only your blade's original form, flooded with your reiatsu, meaning it was little more than any sword shinigami use, like the form it took when Rukia-san was holding it. Yours was stronger, but only by a slight amount. The stronger you become, the more your zanpakuto will change. While I'm not a real taicho, I dare say that I can overpower you without using my zanpakuto." Hearing that, Ichigo was frowning, a little angry as Yuuki continued. "Don't get me wrong, you can become far more powerful, even more than me, but not without training. We can get to that later though. Is that all right?"

Hearing that he would train him, Ichigo stopped his frown and nodded in acceptance. Rukia then asked, "What about those two sleeping? Why did you tell me not to touch their memories?"

Yuuki replied, "That's a simple one. Inheriting their father's powers, they'll be hollow bait if they can't defend themselves. That's why old man Isshin here-" as he said that, he grabbed Isshin by the ear "-is gong to tell them the truth and start training them. We don't know how strong their spirit awareness is, but they should at least know enough to protect themselves in case we're not around, at the very least, don't you agree?" With that said, Yuuki glared at Isshin, daring him to say otherwise.

Isshin started sweating anime-style in nervousness as he answered, "Of-of course. I'll tell them right after school tomorrow." Hoping that Yuuki wouldn't do anything violent to him, seeing as his powers weren't at their fullest, he couldn't even put up a decent fight to escape if he tried.

Yuuki then smiled and said, "Well good, that's quite enough of that, we should all get some sleep after all that excitement. I'll have school uniforms ready for us by tomorrow morning Rukia-san. I don't know your size, but I should be able to find something in my room that'll fit you." Rukia nodded. With that, the four went to bed.

_**Karakura High School, Before Class Begins**_

The three teenagers (well, two teenagers and a woman who was a whole lot older than she looks, but I digress, age's a sensitive subject to women after all) began to walk into their classroom, with Ichigo in the lead, after he brought the two in to register for classes this morning. The staff was surprised, but thought nothing more of it when Ichigo said that they ordered their uniforms in advance. As they walked in, Keigo charged in an attempt to hug him and was stopped by his fist. He cried hanging tears anime-style as he said, "Mou! You're so mean Ichigo! Aren't we best friends anymore?"

Ichigo frowned with a slight vein showing as the two behind him chuckled. He said, "We are, but sometimes I wonder why that's still the case."

Keigo got up, was about to whine some more when he noticed the two standing behind Ichigo. "Who are they Ichigo? Are they your new best friends? Am I being replaced? NOOOOOOOOO!" He was again interrupted by Ichigo with a punch on his head to the ground.

Ichigo replied in annoyance, "You're so damn annoying sometimes, oh!" He stopped as some of his other classmates walked up to him, some more friendly than others. "Yo minna (everyone)! This is-" pointing at Yuuki when he was interrupted by him. "Let me Ichigo. I'm a cousin of Ichigo that just moved in from out of town, my name is Liu Yuuki. This Is my new friend Kuchiki Rukia, who I just met over the weekend, also from out of town. Yorosku (Nice to meet you. I know, my Japanese sucks, feel free to correct me)!"

Ishida looked at the three with a glint in his eyes, when he noticed that Yuuki was returning a glare at him, making him turn and walk away for now. The others paid him no mind, and introduced themselves. "Ohayo (Good morning) Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san and Liu-san! I'm Inoue Orihime, nice to meet you two and I hope we can become great friends!" said Inoue cheerfully.

Noticing the blush that she had on her face when looking at Ichigo, it didn't take much for Yuuki and Rukia to figure things out. Yuuki couldn't help but smirk while Rukia was fighting a frown, not understanding why she was all of a sudden feeling angry.

Sado held out his two hands to Ichigo's new companions, and said, "I'm Sado, but my friends call me Chad. Pleasure meeting you both. Any friend of Ichigo's is a friend of mine." The two shinigami each took one of his hands and accepted the handshake. The introductions continued in about the same manner, with the exception of Tatsuki introducing both herself and Chizuru, shaking the two's hands with one while holding back Chizuru with another.

"Heh. Interesting, so Chizuru-san's a borderline lesbian stalker who can't take a hint huh?" At hearing Yuuki's words, the rest of the group but Inoue were snickering while Chizuru was fuming at being insulted. "What do you mean 'can't take a hint?' 'Hime-chan will see things my way if I have just 5 minutes with her-" she was interrupting as Tatsuki punched her into the wall. "Not while I'm here to protect her from you you won't," Tatsuki said.

Yuuki smirked at their antics as he replied to Chizuru, "Whatever you say Chizuru-san. I'm surprised that you didn't know who she has at least a crush on already. Eh Ichigo?" As he said that, he nudged Ichigo with his elbow. The rest of the group was in shock at the revelation as Inoue was blushing a deeper shade of red at being discovered, Ichigo was flabbergasted with a slight shade of red as he had no idea that his friend felt that way about him, Tatsuki was surprised at how perceptive Yuuki was, Rukia was fighting an even bigger frown at Yuuki's words while Chizuru was in tears at hearing the unfortunate (well, unfortunate for her) truth.

Yuuki put one of his hands on Ichigo's shoulder as he continued, "I know that you like her too man, ask her out already," The two involved in that last statement blush even more. "I know I'm pushing it saying it now, but you don't have to ask each other out in front of us, just do it when we're not around. Oh and, I want first dibs on invites to the wedding." If they were blushing before, the two looked like human tomatoes now.

Before Yuuki embarrassed the two anymore, the teacher walked into the room, ending the teasing for now. After the two new students introduced themselves to the rest of the class, the rest of the school day was rather uneventful.

As the three began to walk home from school, Yuuki teased our hero again, and he was fighting his blush, then shouted back that he would do it on his own time and told Yuuki to lay off. Yuuki agreed with a smirk, saying that he needed to find an apartment anyway. As they went their separate ways, Yuuki began asking real estate agents for a place a little bigger than a 1-bedroom apartment, in case he would have guests over. The one he was currently talking to next led him to a house next to Inoue's place that's for sale or rental. Not knowing that at the time, the two began to look at the place over, when all of a sudden he heard the screech of a hollow. Sensing that Ichigo and Rukia were already on their way, Yuuki left them to handle the situation while finalizing the lease on his new place.

(To what happened to Ichigo and Rukia, watch Bleach episode 2 and 3.)

After sending the estate agent on his way, he immediately transformed into his shinigami form, only to find the fight already over. Inoue was on the ground in tears while Ichigo comforted her, Rukia couldn't help but show a small frown again on her face.

"Aw man, the party's already over? Guess you do good work for a newbie huh Ichigo?" The three turned around, Inoue most surprised that Yuuki was wearing a similar outfit to her love.

"Ano, Liu-san, why are you and Kurosaki-kun wearing the same clothes? Is it a special holiday?" The three nearly facevaulted at Inoue's silliness.

"I'll explain to you about that Inoue-san. Rukia-san, please do your thing, but don't touch Inoue-san's memories," Rukia's frown changed to a look of question as she asked, "I can understand why when you asked me to do that last time, but why not Inoue-san?"

"Well Rukia-san, if you've been paying attention, you'll see that Ichigo's reiatsu is constantly leaking out right?" The other three looked at Ichigo's body and nodded as Yuuki continued. "With that happening, I think his reiatsu is beginning to influence his friends, slowly increasing their spirit awareness and some of them may start to gain strange powers. Look." They all looked as Yuuki's finger pointed at Inoue's hairpins. They began to glow strangely. They then separated and 6 fairies showed themselves. The three looked in surprise while Yuuki smirked.

"This isn't a shinigami power, but that's not surprising as she's human, and I have my share of tricks too. Inoue-san, are you interested in helping your boyfriend fight hollows?" Ichigo and Inoue both blushed, Inoue then nodded. Yuuki continued, "Well good, I can help you out with that, seeing as how those things seem to be your new power. Before I start training you however, you should speak to them, they should know your powers more than anybody else. Then we'll see how it goes from there." He then turned to Ichigo. "Well, ask her out already! You already saved the damsel in distress. Now are you going to do it, or do I have to hold your hand?"

Ichigo, feeling a bit pressured, yelled at Yuuki, "ALL RIGHT ALREADY!" He then turned to Inoue, as they were both blushing. "Inoue, wo-would you like to grab a bite together sometime?"

Inoue who was shocked that her love was finally asking her, HER out on a date, stuttered out "Y-yes, Kurosaki-kun. I'd like that very much."

Yuuki had a huge smile on his face as he put his hands on the new couple's shoulders as he said, "Well it's about time you two. At the rate you were going, I thought I was going to turn to an old fogy before you did something. Rukia-san and I will leave you two lovebirds alone for now. Come on Rukia-san!" Grabbing Rukia's hand and dragging her off without giving the frowning shinigami a chance to reply, they went inside Yuuki's new house.

Rukia flung off Yuuki's hand and asked in a frown and indignant tone. "What the hell was that for? Why did you make them ask each other out in front of me and not let me say anything?"

Yuuki looked at Rukia with a teasing smile and answered, "My my, Rukia-san. I thought you said that you don't have a crush on Ichigo, so what's with you all of a sudden?" Finally noticing what she blurted out, Rukia blushed as Yuuki continued, "Look, those two have liked, perhaps even loved each other for a long time. Rather it works out or not is up to them, I was just giving a little nudge to help start things off. You'll get your chance to tell him about your feelings. But for once, as a favor to me, please leave those two alone for now?"

Hearing that, Rukia could do nothing but nod for now. She was inwardly fuming that Inoue was asked out by Ichigo first, but she wasn't giving up yet. After all, like Yuuki said, she would get her chance. "Now, if you don't mind, how about helping me move my stuff in here? I'll grab things out for you out of my pocket dimension." Rukia's jaw dropped, she just realized that she has just been roped into helping her superior move.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters but my original character. The rest of them all belong to Kubo Tite. Bleach © Kubo Tite.**

**King's Knight**

**Chapter 3 : Meeting of the Former Shinigami, Enter Kon : the Perverted Mod Soul, and Training Begins**

_**In the Middle of a Park, Right After Ichigo had Slain a Hollow that was Sent to Hell due to the Person's Past Sins in Life in Anime Episode 4**_

Yuuki just showed up where the battle just finished, with Inoue holding his shoulder. The two showed up late because she brought over a new dish that she wanted him to try, before testing it on Ichigo. The bantering back and forth with Yuuki trying to politely decline caused it. Yuuki has yet to die from Inoue's cooking, and it wasn't so much that it didn't taste good, but the way she combines the strangest foods that made Yuuki want to barf at the sight of it.

Seeing the gate to hell closing and Ichigo sending the dead boy to Soul Society, Yuuki couldn't help but curse, "Shit, again? I swear, at this rate, I'm starting to feel like a certain Power Ranger." (That was in tribute to the original green Ranger that didn't act like a total gayass with silly poses ALL the time, as I watched as a child, mainly for the giant robots, influenced by the fact that the first anime I watched as a child was mainly of the super robot genre, since Gundam was a bit complicated for me to understand just yet.)

Inoue was about to start bowing and muttering apologies when Yuuki cut her off and said, "Would you cut that out Inoue-san? It's not your fault for being well-natured, even if your choices of food combinations are… different. Besides, your player boyfriend, Rukia and Chad handled it just fine without us."

Inoue was oblivious to Yuuki's choice of words to describe Ichigo while our hero started returning curses of his own with a blush on his face about a jackass shinigami who's been playing matchmaker. Yuuki smirked in satisfaction of his choice of words riling Ichigo up while saying to Rukia, "Rukia-san, you know what to do, and don't-"

Rukia interrupted him, "I know, don't touch Chad-san's memories. I learned after the last two times, and the change in color to black and purple for his arm was kind of a dead giveaway." While she made the call to Soul Society, Ichigo was still fuming while Yuuki began to explain to Chad about what caused the transformation to his arm and about how he would do his best to train both Inoue and he how to use their new powers to help fight against hollows.

Having finished the call, Rukia said to Ichigo, "Hey idiot! I'm tired of having to lug your heavy body around. Come on, we're going to Urahara Shop to get you a mod soul pill!"

Ichigo answered back, "Who're you calling idiot shortie? Besides, can't Yuuki can teach me how to transform like he does?"

Yuuki was about to agree at hearing Ichigo's request when Rukia ran up to Ichigo and stomped on his foot, making him jump on one foot in pain again while sending Yuuki a glare. Knowing better than to mess with a scorned woman, Yuuki said, "Maybe later. Besides, having a backup pill never hurts anyone."

Showing a smile that would make the King of Soul Society himself cringe in fear, Rukia chucked Ichigo back into his body and dragged him off in the direction of the Urahara Shop while Inoue said how funny Kuchiki-san was with their boyfriend and the other two sweatdropped as they followed Rukia. (Yes, that's right, THEIR boyfriend. In this story, it's been a month since Ichigo asked Inoue out. Two week later, during lunch at school…)

_**(Flashback)**_

Rukia and the other girls were in the middle of their meal, like how it has been since she began school here. She was taking a sip of tea when Inoue all of a sudden asked, "Kuchiki-san, do you like Kurosaki-kun?" At hearing that, Rukia sprayed the sip of tea she was downing right into Chizuru's face, even with a little rice that she swallowed.

Struggling a response, Rukia said, "Wh-why, why would you ask that Inoue-san? That idiot is your boyfriend remember?" Despite her words, a slight vein was beginning on the side of her forehead.

Inoue responded in words that totally floored the others, "Well because if we gang up on him together, the girls' team wins! Why else? (If you don't remember this line, go back to season 1 of the anime or check out the manga)"

Rukia replied in the most unexpected way that shocked the others but Inoue even more, "Ar-are you serious Inoue-san? Because I may take you up on your offer."

Inoue said with the sweetest smile back, oblivious of the others with their jaws open, and Chizuru trying very hard at fighting a nosebleed, "Of course, now Kurosaki-kun will be no match against our team!"

_**(End Flashback)**_

And with that, Rukia also confessed her feelings to Ichigo shortly after, who was shocked twice, once in revelation of her feelings for him, and again when Inoue who was with her at the time taking it far too well. And they've both been dating Ichigo since, with Rukia being the violent tomboy while Inoue being the sweet and innocent girlfriend.

_**Urahara Shop**_

As the gang opened the door and enter the seemingly dingy shop, Ururu walked up and said, "Welcome to the-ah, Rukia-san, welcome back! Is there something we can help you with today?"

Rukia, after finally dropping Ichigo like a sac of potatoes, said, "Yes, I would like a pack of mod soul pills for idiot here-" kicking our poor hero in the head "and my superior officer here-" pointing at Yuuki "-needs to speak with Urahara-san about something in private."

Ururu immediately ran to the back of the store to start looking for said needed good while the big man Tessai stepped out of seemingly nowhere. Well aware from Kisuke about his hatred of formalities, he said to Yuuki, "He's been expecting you, Yuuki-san. Please, this way." Giving a nod to the two behind him to follow, the three followed Tessai to what looked like a living room in the back. (For what happened to Ichigo and Rukia next, refer back the anime episode 6 and 7 or the respective manga chapters.)

As the four walked into the room, Kisuke was sitting down around the living table in his usual outfit, paper fan and all when a black neko (cat) that we should all be familiar with was about to jump at Yuuki and transform in all her naked glory, Yuuki immediately held up his hand telling her to stop before she even did so and said, "Hat man, please hand her her clothes and have her glomp me WITH clothes on this time."

Said neko pouted as Tessai pulled out Yoruichi's fighting outfit on a hanger and gave it to her while she dragged it with her mouth to the next room and closed to door to change. A few seconds of crashing sounds of changing and grumbling about a smartass prude later, a beautiful dark-skinned woman came out with the outfit the cat was dragging and sat down next to Kisuke.

Kisuke began to speak, "Ara, Yuuki-san, what brings a shinigami of your caliber all the way out here? Are you on vacation or something?"

The three on Yuuki's side of the table near facevaulted and Yuuki answered, "No you idiotic hat man. This isn't a social call. And for the last time, get some fucking chairs in here. You know I hate sitting in that strange position that the Japanese do. First of all, may I use your training facilities? These two friends of mine have recently gained some bizarre powers that I've never seen before, and I'd like to help them harness it."

Kisuke whipped out his paper fan and waved it around as he replied, "But of course, for the appropriate amount of rental fee. I plan to get back what you owe me since you were so cheap last time I dragged you to a bar to drink."

Everyone sweatdropped and Yuuki yelled back at Kisuke, indignant, "I'M NOT CHEAP! I'M JUST SENISBLE! Besides, I don't drink at all and you know it. You just dragged me there to pay for your tab when you got wasted."

Kisuke waved Yuuki off as he said, "Details, details. Tessai, be a good man and show the three the field in the basement." The two next to Yuuki got up, wondering why Yuuki was still sitting down cross-legged. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone)" A copy of the shinigami showed up next to Yuuki before he himself changed back into his normal clothes. The clone said, "Come on, we'll figure out how to use your powers yet. Anything that I do with you will go back to the original me here. Let's go."

Inoue was in child-mode again as she said, "Oh wow, a bunshin! Do you think you can teach me your cool ninja tricks too?" The rest of the group sweatdropped. The clone answered, "Sure Inoue-san, maybe after we figure out how to use your powers first." With that, Tessai led the Yuuki clone, Inoue and Chad down to the basement.

Yuuki smiled sheepishly at Kisuke and Yoruichi and said, "Sweet girl, her grades aren't bad either. Sometimes though, I wonder if she's all there."

Yoruichi moved over next to Yuuki, glomped him and asked in a husky tone, "But I'm sweeter, right Yuuki-kun?"

Yuuki scratched the side of his face with his forefinger, another habit of his and he answered, "I won't argue with that. But do you think you can let me up for air while we talk Yoru-chan?"

Yoruichi pouted as she settled for setting her head on his shoulders while wrapping her arms around his waist. Yuuki turned back to Kisuke and said, "Now then, the other reason that I came today is because of that spherical lava lamp that you designed hat man."

Kisuke's expression changed from his usual smug smile to one of seriousness and said, "The Hogyoku (Orb of Distortion)? What about it?"

Slightly annoyed at how nonchalant Kisuke was being, Yuuki said, "What about it? The unnatural energy source and everything else that it can do is being sought after by somebody who should never be allowed to get their hands on it."

Yoruichi, sensing the distress in Yuuki's voice, asked, "What's the problem? I thought Kisuke has already hidden it in a safe place."

Sighing, Yuuki replied, "What the problem is, my dear neko-chan, that the 'safe place' hat man put it in is now in the human world, having violated a major rule of the shinigami, and is a sitting duck should anybody stronger than the one she gave her power to is right now if they're ambushed while we're not around. Rukia without her powers isn't so safe, is she?"

_**Down in the Basement, at the Same Time that the Above Conversation was Taking Place**_

"Whoa, sugoi (amazing)! Your basement is huge bodyguard-san!" exclaimed Inoue with what she saw.

"Not exactly my choice of words, but I agree with you Inoue. How is this possible?" Chad asked in a tone of equal amazement.

"Well it's not the exact same thing, but I do believe that this is a separate dimension that is connected to the basement door, kind of like my pocket dimension. But that's not important at the moment. Tessai, here's my card. You can charge me with the day package," said Yuuki, handing Tessai his credit card.

"Wise choice. You know him well huh?" asked Tessai.

Yuuki shook his head and answered, "Too well for my taste. How else do you think this place is still in business? He constantly tried to scam me whenever I ran into him. If I'm not financially stable, I would've beaten him until he coughed back all my money."

Both big men sweatdropped at hearing that and Tessai said, "Right. Well, have fun down here. Let me know if you need anything." With that, Tessai went back upstairs.

Leading the two away from the door as not as to trap themselves for eternity, Yuuki said, "Well, you've both told me a bit about your powers after you tried them out yourselves. Now I want you both to attack me with all you have. Don't worry, I may be a clone, but I'm tougher than I look. After you're all worn out from practicing your attacks, I'll start to work on Inoue-san's other techniques while Chad takes a break. Now come!" The two took a few steps back, and began firing their signature attacks.

_**Back in the Living Room**_

Kisuke looked slightly shocked at Yuuki's words, asked, "How did you-?" Yuuki cut him off and said, "Come on hat man. You knowing what my job is, how do you expect me to NOT know these things?"

Yoruichi began to look serious and asked Yuuki, "From the way you sound, you know who our enemies are, don't you?" Yuuki nodded with a grim look on his face and said, "Yeah, but even with my position, those morons in the Seireitei (Court of Pure Souls) still may not believe us. Regardless, we've got to try to let them know about the incoming threat, so that we can prevent it. With that said, there are only so few that we can trust not to betray us. A good place to start would be with you Yoru-chan. If that girl who admired you didn't blush like a tomato around me, I'd swear that she was a lesbian."

Kisuke, who was taking a sip of tea in at the moment, nearly choked at hearing that. Losing Yoruichi to a guy like Yuuki was something he could live with, but losing to the other gender would be a huge blow to his ego. Yoruichi started moving her forefinger around Yuuki's chest and asked in a teasing tone, "Aw Yuuki-kun, are you suggesting that we have a threesome together?"

Kisuke fell back with a huge nosebleed at hearing that and passed out. No matter how long he has known Yoruichi as a friend, the sexual innuendos never failed to floor him. Yuuki smacked his forehead with his free hand and said, "Mou Yoru-chan, can't we be serious for a second? Even if we were to go ahead with your erotic fantasies, did you have to talk about it in front of hat man while we're holding an important conversation? He's going to be out for a while."

With Yoruichi giving him the watery-eyed expression of cuteness (Think the cat from Shrek 2. I know there are plenty of OOCness in the fic, but I like some lightheartedness in the fic like the canon plot), Yuuki sighed in resignation and said, "Sometimes I just don't know what to do with you. Anyway, what I meant was that you should make up with her by TALKING, just TALKING, since she's most likely pissed at you for leaving her behind without so much as a note a century ago. Once you've gotten through to her, show her the list of the taichos and fukutaichos that can be trusted and those that are hostile. Tell her not to bother with the rest, since they either have sticks up their asses or simply don't care. I was going to tell hat man to contact the old geezer in squad one, even though he's not likely to listen, I was hoping the fact that he would take his words into consideration since hat man would never contact him unless the world's coming to an end or something."

Yoruichi tried to answer him with a smile and a reassuring tone, "Yeah well, for all our sakes, let's hope that this time is 'or something.'"

_**Back to the Basement**_

Meanwhile in the desolate training field, Yuuki was firing multiple energy shots from the tip of his forefinger (Yes I plan to incorporate techniques from different anime into my OC's arsenal, bite me. No, I don't own the technique, whoever owns Yu Yu Hakusho does. I don't own any of my OCs techniques unless I specify. Don't bother suing, I don't make enough income for you to even break even if you win.) at Inoue, while she was doing her best to hold back the attacks with her Santen Kesshun (Three Sacred Link Shield) when one shot pierced her shield and flew right by the side of her head. Finally knocked back, she fell on her behind and is panting fairly heavily.

"Very good for your first day Inoue-san. You should still have some energy left, why don't you use your Soten Kisshun (Twin Scared Return Shield) to fix up yourself and Chad? Start with Chad, then try to heal yourself. I know that it's much harder to do that, but if you can heal yourself, you can heal anyone." Obeying her trainer's orders, Inoue walked up next to Chad and began to heal him as Yuuki crouched down next to them.

"You two are doing really well for having just discovered these powers. Chad, with your arm, we should keep up your training until one of your regular shots can match the power of one of my full-powered Reigan (Spirit Sphere). Inoue-san, we'll keep practicing your attack until you're able to at least knick me anywhere on my body, hopefully areas that don't involve permanent damage. Also, we'll keep practicing your Santen Kesshun until you're able to hold out against one of my rapid-firing attacks," said Yuuki enthusiastically.

Inoue was about to start apologizing again when Yuuki held his hand up indicating that she stop, as he spoke again, "No Inoue-san. You need to stop apologizing for not being strong enough. You got those pins for a reason, just they became your power for a reason. Your abilities don't lie in your attacks, but rather in defending and healing. You may not realize this, but that healing ability of yours is different from any other I've seen, and I've come across quite a few. It literally turns back the clock on any injury incurred, meaning you can heal anybody, no matter how close to dying they are. Considering how your hothead boyfriend fights, he's going to get hurt a lot, and I mean A LOT. If nothing else, you can keep helping him with your powers so that he can get right back up and fight again. Believe in yourself, just like how your friends, me, and especially Ichigo believe in you."

After hearing his words of encouragement, Inoue nods with a smile and a few tears in her eyes. Yuuki winced at the sight and said, "Oh come on, don't cry. You cry and your boyfriend will get on my case, thinking that I hurt you or something." She nodded again, wiping the tears out of her eyes as he finished by saying, "Finish up, it's about dinnertime and I'm starving. With the shitty school system in Japan, we need to be well-rested. We'll do this every Sunday and Saturday from now on, minus your trio's time OK?"

Having finished the healing, which was a slow process as Inoue tried to heal herself for the first time, the trio began to walk out of the basement. Yuuki was looking in interest, having chosen not to mention his suspicion of her ability possibly resurrecting the dead until he deemed it necessary. The clone dispelled himself as the real him and Yoruichi walked out of the living room, him already gotten his credit card back and Kisuke still passed out in the room. Just as the trio was about to head home, Ichigo and Rukia walked in with what seemed to be a lion-plush doll in Ichigo's hand. They both had a look of disgust on their faces as Ichigo asked, "Where's Urahara? I don't want this damn mod soul anymore, it's defective."

Yoruichi looked at the doll and asked, "What do you mean by that? What's wrong with it?" At the sight of the purple-haired beauty, Kon immediately attempted to jump into her buxom, which was a failure as Yoruichi used shunpo to get behind Yuuki, resulting his landing in Yuuki's chest. Turning to his right as he saw Inoue, he immediately tried to jump at her next when he was caught by his zipper by Yuuki.

Turning his face around, Yuuki asked with what seemed to be a smile, "I see, the mod soul's an open pervert huh?" Getting a nod from everyone, he stared at the doll with an immense of killing intent and said, "You listen to me and listen good. Mod soul or plush doll, if there's one thing I can't stand, they're male perverts. If you let me catch you so much as try to grope any lady while I'm around, I'll make certain that you wish you never existed. Do we understand each other?" Kon could only nod as he would've pissed himself were he able to. Yuuki continued, "Well, that's that. I did what I could, and hat man's place has a no-refund policy, so you're stuck with him."

Ichigo looked in disbelief and retorted, "What? You mean we have to live with the little freak?" Yuuki replied, "Sorry, but it looks like it. Just be glad that you don't have to use him. Come here this weekend and I'll show you how to transform without a pill like I do."

Yoruichi, ever the persistent sex kitten, asked in a husky voice, "Ne Yuuki-kun, I heard you got yourself a new place. How about I move in with you?" The others blushed at what Yoruichi was implying, while Kon wanted to volunteer to live with her himself, but kept quiet as he still remembered what he felt when Yuuki threatened him. Yuuki replied in nonchalance, used to her antics, "Sorry Yoru-chan, wait until we get married. That was the rule we agreed to when you asked me to go steady."

Yoruichi pouted, her attempt thwarted again and said, "Humph, I'll get you one of these days." Yuuki chuckled and replied, "100+ years and our score's still one-sided with you at 0. See you tomorrow Yoru-chan. Come on guys." The gang walked their separate ways home while Yoruichi had a look of longing on her face until Yuuki shunpoed back, kissed her on the cheek and left again. Yoruichi had a smirk of satisfaction on her face with a slight shade of red as she rubbed her cheek where she was just kissed. "It's enough for now hon, enough for now."

_**Please read and review, thanks.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters but my original character. The rest of them all belong to Kubo Tite. Bleach © Kubo Tite.**

**King's Knight**

**Chapter 4 : Redemption for a Loved One**

_**In Front of the Grave of Ichigo's Mom, Early morning on June 17**__**th**___

Staring at the grave in silence were the three Kurosaki children, while Isshin stood aside slightly to smoke the only time he did every year. Behind the children were Ichigo's girlfriends with looks of a mix between respect and sadness while Yuuki stood on the side, sighing from the gloomy atmosphere.

As Yuuki stepped off a bit to get away from the group while they paid their respects, a shinigami wearing a raining hat that made him look like a samurai ripoff. He looked at Yuuki in interest, sensing the suppressed reiatsu from the teenager and asked, "Heh, well this is interesting. I came around looking for this area's shinigami on the job, wondering why she hasn't come back to Soul Society yet, and I run into a human with power that feels like ours. What's your rank gaki (brat)?"

Having a slight vein on the side of his forehead at being called a kid by an unknown shinigami, Yuuki maintained his composure and replied, "Introduce yourself first, or didn't you learn manners from the academy rookie?"

Irritated that a young punk just insulted him, the shinigami reached for his zanpakuto, wanting to teach the kid a lesson, when a cry of surprise was heard back where the others were. Everybody back by the grave saw a floating figure of one of their dead loved ones. The Kurosaki children saw the figure of their mother and began to walk toward her, while Rukia saw what appeared to be Kaien and was beginning to do the same. Inoue saw what seemed to be her brother and she almost followed until she smacked her face with her hands, and shook herself off from the illusion, realizing that Ichigo already helped his spirit pass on. Isshin was the only one who didn't fall for the deception, as he had experience as a former captain.

The four continued to trek forward slowly like zombies towards the illusion until they were stopped when they smacked into what appeared to be an invisible wall. Inoue, sweating a bit from concentration while using her Santen Kesshun in an unexpected manner, shielding the hollow from the others instead in order to keep them from reaching it as she yelled out, "Minna! Snap out of it! What you're seeing isn't real!"

As the four realized that they've been deceived, Ichigo, seething in anger that the image of his precious mother being used against him, immediately transformed, zanpakuto in hand and charged at the enemy after Inoue's shield was released, who revealed himself to be a bulky hollow with an antenna pointing forward from his head, holding the form of what appeared to be the Kurosakis' mother from its tip.

Karin pulled a soccer ball that seemed slightly smaller than a standard one from out of Kon, who was on Yuzu's back, modified into a backpack. Ignoring the mod soul's complaints at being used like a household item, she was about to set it down, ready to strike when Rukia put her hand on one of Karin's wrist and shook her head, indicating not to attack. Karin was about to retort for her letting her brother fight alone when Isshin put one hand on Karin's shoulder while pointing to the direction of the fight with his other and said, "Calm down and watch. It's his fight."

As Grand Fisher repeatedly taunted Ichigo while slowly dismantling Ichigo with ease, everybody had various thoughts about the shinigami daigo. Isshin thought back to when Ichigo's personality was happy-go-lucky, slight hyper and always hung around his mother, like a moth to the flame. Rukia, as she saw Ichigo stubbornly tried to fight back despite slowly but surly accumulating heavy damage, had a flashback to when she saw Kaien fight and began dying in front of her eyes, realizing why Isshin stopped them from interfering, the speech that her taicho gave her echoing across her mind.

Inoue, who resumed using Santen Kesshun to shield everyone, thought back to what Tatsuki told him about Ichigo one afternoon earlier in the week when she said that her boyfriend was a superhero, and how her best friend told her about the change in him from before his mother's death and after. Remembering the vivid details that Tatsuki gave, tears began to stream down her face. Ichigo's two sisters were thinking back to their own breakdowns around their mother's death, as the hollow's illusion lure brought the memories rushing back.

Yuuki, who was struggling against his respect for Ichigo's wish to fight alone, had his fists clenched, as reiatsu began to radiate from them while the other shinigami was looking on with interest while wondering if he should interfere.

After the last of the spirit of his mother encouraged her son to live on, Ichigo, with renewed resolve, dealt a severe blow to Grand Fisher in a sudden burst of speed. As said hollow began to run away, Ichigo attempted to leap and give chase and collapsed, caught by Yuuki who shunpoed to him. Like the heavens were responding to the sadness of what just transpired, rain began to pour.

After Yuuki caught Ichigo, he stood and turned around, glared at the shinigami who came for Rukia as the others rushed to Ichigo's aid and said, "We've had enough problems for one day. Now are you going to do the only thing you're good at, being from the stealth squad, or are you feeling lucky?" As he said this, a dangerous gleam of anger crossed his eyes.

Knowing that he was out of his league, the threatened man stuttered a reply, "Fin-fine, I'll be leaving. But don't think just because you got me to back off doesn't mean Soul Society won't find out." With that, he ran away with his tail between his legs.

Later the day around the evening, while Rukia and Inoue were trying to console and cheer up the young girls, the three men stood in front of the deceased Kurosaki's grave again in silence. Noticing the cigarette in Isshin's mouth, Ichigo asked, "I thought you quit, why're you smoking again?"

Isshin took it out of his mouth for a moment and blew before he answered, "When I met your mother, the first thing that she said to me was how cool I looked while smoking. So even after I quit, for at least this day every year, I'd stand in front of her and light one."

Yuuki had a sad look on his face as he sighed and said, "We all have our own ways to grieve. My way is a bit... different." The father and son turned to him as he told them something he never mentioned aloud.

_**(Flashback)**_

A young Yuuki was standing by the door and his parents were off for some alone time, according to what they tell him that same night every year. In the same night, there was a festival in town, yet his parents never let him out that night. Every year around that time, he would start making complaints about why he could never go out to see the festival that night. Their response was always back to saying the story behind the holiday, that spirits wandered around that night, searching for children that they could eat. As a typical kid, he whined as he said it was a lame excuse, not a believer of the supernatural at the time.

As his parents said that goodbyes for the night before their 'date,' his father simply waved to him with his back turned, the only noticeable feature on him was his head of hair, in the same shape cut as the older Yuuki, but all gray. His mother, whose resemblance to a certain fukutaicho of the 8th squad was uncanny, gave her son a kiss on the forehead as they walked out and close the door behind them. That was the last time he saw them alive.

Feeling that he finally had enough, Yuuki climbed out his bedroom and jumped out onto the streets. He felt that just once, he wanted to see all the buzz the festival was about, just to satisfy his curiosity.

As he began to wander towards the bustling sounds, while sneaking glances left and right every time he crossed a street, not wanting to be caught by his parents. All of a sudden, out of an alleyway was a boy in strangely fancy clothing, the material on his outfit seemed to be very well-made, with a silk-like shine. Said boy tripped on Yuuki's leg and felt into a mud puddle in front of both boys. Glad to have not been the one to get dirty and amused by the stranger's predicament, Yuuki attempted to stifle his chuckle and failed miserably and he ended rolling on the floor in laughter at the sight in front of him as the other boy got up, the only thing one could see on his face were his eyes, as he was covered in mud, hair and all.

While the rich boy was about to retort back for Yuuki laughing at his expense, sounds of men were coming from the alleyway the boy ran out of. After Yuuki's sudden new companion shook the mud off his face and had a look of slight fear on it, Yuuki asked, "Those guys looking for you or something?" The boy barely got out a "Yes" before Yuuki took him by hand and dragged him off running in another direction, trying to put some distance between themselves and his new friend's pursuers.

After running for a few blocks, the two took deep breaths as they slowed to a walking pace. Yuuki asked his new friend to come with him back to his house so they could hide out there, completely forgetting about checking out the festivities with the excitement that seemed to have come out of nowhere. As they took a different path back towards Yuuki's house, the sight that they saw in the next corner forever left a scar in the then-young boy's heart. There was nothing left of his parents but their corpses sprawled on the ground, blood flowing out of their wounds in red streams, slowly forming a pool of blood. Tears pouring out of his eyes, Yuuki ran up to his parents, shaking each of their bodies in a futile attempt to revive them, ignoring the warning cries of his friend.

Finally realizing that he was too late, the crying boy lifted his left hand and looked at it, covered in the blood of his parents, as were the lower half of his body and clothes. At the sudden sound of panic from behind him, he saw his friend with his hands up with a look of fear on his face, as who he assumed was the same man who murdered his parents with the bloody sword in his right hand, raised and ready to strike down a child. Without hesitation, he ran forward.

Yuuki's friend had his eyes closed, ready for the end as a sound of flesh meeting metal was heard, but no pain came. He opened his eyes and he saw that the strange boy in peasant clothes in a standing position facing him, his arms spread out with a strange look that was a mix between joy and sadness. You couldn't tell rather he was laughing or crying. As blood began to leak out of him in huge amounts from the blow he took in the back by his attacker and he dropped to the ground in a thud, his head on one side with one eye looking up, the boy couldn't only utter the word, "Doustare (Why)?"

Yuuki chuckled once, causing with blood spurting out of his mouth, and he said weakly, "I don't know. My body just moved before my mind did. I'm sorry tou-san (father), kaa-san (mother)…" As he closed his eyes, ready to embrace his seemingly inevitable end, the last thing that he saw was out of the shadow, a clear look on the face of his killer, before the light showing his face was gone again…

_**(End flashback)**_

The other two men's jaws dropped, as they were stunned by the detail of the horrid truth of Yuuki's past told by the man himself. Out of his stupor, Ichigo asked, "What happened next? How're you still alive?"

Yuuki sighed as he looked up into the sky sadly as he replied, "I'd rather not talk about that. But my point is that we all have our own demons, even if they aren't all as big as ours. I plan to avenge them both, with everything that I am. But at the same time, I don't want to see the ones around me get hurt or become sad either. So I won't die until I do it, but I won't charge in like a mad bull either."

Isshin turned back to his son and said, "Remember what your name means son? 'He who protects.' Your mother gave her life to protect you Ichigo, so I can understand why you want to do the same for the people around you. But always remember this : live well, grow old well, grow bald well, and die long after I'm gone, with a smile on your face. It's what both I want and your mother would've wanted." With that, he walked off, leaving the other two men standing in front of his wife's grave in thoughts.

Without moving, Ichigo said aloud to nobody in particular, knowing his raven-haired girlfriend was listening, "Rukia, I'd like to be a shinigami who just a little while longer. I want to become strong, strong enough to kill any hollow we meet, especially Fisher-teme (Fisher bastard) that ran away. Only then can I live my life and die with a smile on my face and face my mom." Standing a decent distance away, Rukia had a smile on her face. Just then, Ichigo was kneed in the head by his father who came out of nowhere. The two shinigami chuckled as the father and son brawled in front of them, like their usual selves again.

**Please read and review, thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters but my original character

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters but my original character. The rest of them all belong to Kubo Tite. Bleach © Kubo Tite.**

**King's Knight**

_Author's Note : Hey, sorry about not updating, but my laptop's LCD was on the friz, cutting my writing time, or typing time since I'm too lazy to write things down on paper much these days. I just got my hands on another one cheap though, so now I'm back! Anyway, not much as far as reviews go, but I will talk about the suggestions for Ichigo's prospective girls. I don't see Tatsuki with either Ichigo or my character, since she's too close as friends with Ichigo, as well as quite the tomboy. It IS possible to be friends with the opposite gender, despite this being a harem fic (Gah, the word is so insulting). Momo's one that I won't decide for a LONG time, since she was so obsessed in the faux-Aizen and seemed to be close to the Shorty Captain of Squad 10. Rangiku's too much of a tease that I think I'll probably end up sticking him with my OC, who seemed to have experience dealing with her, from what we saw with Yoruichi. On second thought, let's stick him with Rangiku, one tease's more than enough for my character. Nanao's actually going to have a history with my OC, and NOT as his mother, since I said that his mother resembled her, they're not actually one and the same, nor are they related. As for Nemu, I think she's actually going to go better with Ishida, since he played knight in shining armor for her, assuming that I can make that work by turning her into less of a puppet for the freak of a father she has. The Vizard, I'm not going to get into them much yet, since there's next to no info on them other than their names and appearance. Nel's a lock for Ichigo, but Halibel's another iffy one between Ichigo and my OC, depends on how strong Ichigo will be by the time she enters the fray. Well, I think that's everybody mentioned for now. Meanwhile, here's chapter 5, happy R & R-ing, thanks!_

**Chapter 5 : Enter the Knitting Quincy, Strange Mass Appearance of Hollow**

_**Yuuki's House, Afternoon **_

It's been two weeks since the encounter with the battle with Grand Fisher. There's been no sign of him since. Things have returned to normal, well as normal as things were in this town. Ichigo and Rukia were bickering to each other as they both entered Yuuki's bedroom from the window, much like how they would in Ichigo's room in the canon story. It was the third time this week that they detected a hollow signal and found nothing when they got there. It was as if somebody did their job. Yuuki, who has been trying to take a nap in his bed, woke up at the noise and asked the two, "Haven't you two ever heard of a doorbell? Some of us like to sleep when we're not in school."

Noticing that he was now awake, the two began to rapid-fire what they've been finding out about the strange hollow sightings to him, with their words overlapping one another and leaving the boy unable to understand one word of it. They followed Yuuki to the kitchen, as he walked downstairs to said room to get a drink while hoping to find some food to shut the two up for a while, continuing to argue all the while, when suddenly the doorbell rang.

Yuuki went to open the door, only to find Inoue with another strange plate of food. Inoue was going to try another new recipe on Yuuki before offering some to her boyfriend, when she noticed that both he and Rukia were in the house as well. It appeared to be a plate of cookies, only with a strange odor and a dipping on the side that he didn't recognize. So quickly thinking, Yuuki used an excuse to go check out the source of these strange hollow sightings with no results, transformed and leapt out a window, leaving Ichigo and Rukia to be Inoue's lab rats for once.

After he jumped from one roof to another a good distance away from his house, Yuuki sighed in relief as he said aloud, "Whew! That was too close. Her food's not always bad, but sometimes just looking at the food makes me want to gag." Suddenly, he sensed two sources of energy not too far from him, one fading, most likely a hollow, and the other strangely like his own, but less. He immediately began to shunpo in the direction of what he was sensing.

When he found what he felt and stopped, all he saw was a hollow slowly disappearing and a certain classmate of his with glasses and what appeared to be an energy bow of some sort on one arm. Yuuki commented to his classmate still in uniform by first saying, "Well well, if it isn't knitting boy."

Ishida took a glance up at the shinigami and spoke, "So you found me huh? I was expecting Kurosaki, but this works fine too." Immediately after he finished the sentence, he took a shot at nearly point-blank range at his classmate.

What happened next surprised the Quincy however. Yuuki simply caught the arrow of energy with his forefinger and middle finger effortlessly with one hand up, before the arrow dissipated, as if it was absorbed. Shocked at the ease of how his attack was nullified, Ishida asked in a tone of disbelief, "How-? What are you?"

Yuuki shook his head, he couldn't believe that this fellow classmate was actually the guy with the highest grades in his class. He replied, "Man, for a smart guy, you're an idiot. You just saw what I did, what exactly do you think I am?" Stunned by what the man in front of him was implying, Ishida spoke again in disbelief, "How? You can't be a Quincy! I'm the last one left after my shishou (master) was killed and left to die!"

Yuuki answered in a bored tone with his hand up like he was mocking the Quincy's words, "Blah blah blah. Couldn't have, shouldn't have, wouldn't have. I am what I am, now what the heck do you think you're doing? This is Rukia-san's or for now Ichigo's turf to protect, where do you get off stealing his kills when you know what too many hollows killed by Quincy powers can cause?"

Ishida regained his composure, did his usual nudge to his glasses from the nose and replied, "Well, as long as you're here, I may as well tell you. I challenge Kurosaki to a contest. Tell him to come meet me tomorrow afternoon, the same time as now over at that open field," pointing to a fairly empty field over to his left with the exception of some pipes and patches of grass. Yuuki asked in a curious tone, "And why only Ichigo and not me as well?"

Ishida did his trademark nudge again and commented, "Despite whatever reason you don a shinigami uniform, you are a fellow Quincy, so I will not fight you. Be sure to tell him what I said." With that, the Quincy simply disengaged his weapon and walked away. 'This ought to be interesting. The others will want to hear about this too.' At that thought, he shunpoed back in the direction of his house.

About an hour after Yuuki arrived back in his home, the three dating teenagers were still there, along with Chad, whom he called over to talk about something important. Looking at the faces of Ichigo and Rukia with still slight shades of green and Inoue's look of confusion, the shinigami mentally sighed in relief that he didn't stick around earlier. Rukia was the first to ask, "So Yuuki-san, what's so important that you called Chad-san over as well?"

Yuuki proceeded to tell the others about his confrontation with their fellow classmate and young Quincy. Rukia gasped at hearing that a Quincy was the one who's been steal-killing hollows that they detected and Ichigo asked, "So what's the big deal? What exactly is a Quincy, and what did you mean that you ARE one?"

Rukia bopped Ichigo one in the head, before she proceeded to tell the others about the history of the Quincy, which she mostly learned from Kisuke. After hearing her out and nodding in understanding, Inoue turned to Yuuki and asked, "But Liu-san, if they were slaughtered 200 years ago, how are you still alive?"

Yuuki winced at the unpleasant memories that just passed his mind again, before he replied, "Well, after I ended up in Soul Society, I requested to have my parents' bodies examined, so that I could find out more about their killer." The others gasped at hearing that, before Ichigo interrupted and told the others about the tragic tale of Yuuki's past. Nodding in understanding, Yuuki continued, "Well anyway, what they found was that my mother was a Quincy, which can be one reason why they were killed. I think there's more to it though, since the manner that bastard did it in a manner that was so brutal, like he enjoyed it."

Noticing the tenseness of the others, the half-Quincy changed the subject, "So anyway, you should go to confront knitting boy Ichigo. Rukia-san and I will go with you." Chad asked about what role Inoue and he should take. Yuuki replied, "Not too much I guess. But since we don't know what he has planned for Ichigo, you two should pay attention if strange things start showing up like hollows."

Understanding the plan, the others began to leave, with Inoue leading Ichigo and Rukia over to her place for a drink that can help upset stomachs, much to the dismay of the two attempting to get away, afraid to try anything else that the girl had for them.

_**Open Field, at the Designated Time the Next Day**_

Ichigo showed up in shinigami form with Rukia and Yuuki, who remained in normal clothes with a bored look on his face. Ishida was already there, seeming to have waited patiently as he nudged his glasses again and said, "So, you showed up after all."

Ichigo retorted rudely, "Of course I did you jackass! What the hell are you doing trying to kill hollows on your own? Now what's this so-called contest of yours about?" Said Quincy didn't reply to Ichigo's insults, pulled out a roll of paper and proceeded to explain the rules of the contest. At the moment the hollow bait was released, said creatures began to appear from the sky. Ichigo said confidently while holding his zanpakuto, "Bring it on!" Ishida quipped, "We'll now see who's better, a shinigami or a Quincy." With that, the hollow hunting contest began.

30 minutes later, both contestants were beginning to show signs of fatigue, while Ishida had a look of concern on his face, as well as the two spectators. Yuuki said, "Something's wrong. That bait was good, but not THIS good. I should check up on those two. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" At the call of the technique, two clones appeared. Yuuki ordered to the two, "Quick! Go find Inoue-san and Chad! They may be under attack!" With a nod, the two clones were off.

Meanwhile, Inoue and Chad had their hands full, as they were each fighting a hollow, Chad holding off one that attacked Karin and her friends, while Inoue was protecting her injured best friend Tatsuki from another, trying to wait for the right moment to get the hollow in one shot.

One of the clones arrived to where Chad was fighting, only to find that him standing with his arm transformed, the fight already won. Karin had a look of relief on her face as she turned to Yuuki and yelled, "The fight's already over. Where the hell were you? And where's Ichi-nii (big bro Ichigo)?" The clone smiled sheepishly as he proceeded to explain.

The other clone just arrived at the school. He turned his head at the sound of "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun (Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield), I reject! ", only to find a disappearing body of a hollow, who was struck down by Tsubaki, along with Inoue and Tatsuki on the ground, the former healing the latter who became unconscious. The Yuuki clone jumped down to the ground and said to a distracted Inoue, "Well done. I was hoping to get a few shots in myself, but it looks like the training paid off huh?" Inoue, snapped out of her concerned state for her friend, only nodded at hearing his voice after seeing who it was, as her teacher continued, "Well let's finish up and put her in the nurse's office. Ichigo and knitting boy may be in trouble." At hearing that, Inoue immediately picked up the pace and the two lifted a healed Tatsuki to the said room before heading to the contest grounds.

Back on the field where Ichigo and Ishida were competing, the said two young men were getting worn down by the overwhelming amount of hollows. Rukia ran forward in an attempt to help her boyfriend, but she was held back by Yuuki on her shoulder, who she turned her head to and saw him shake his head. At that moment, a more gigantic hollow began to appear out of a rip in the sky. Ishida looked up, saw it and cursed, "Shit! A Menos Grande! The bait wasn't supposed to lure this many here, especially not a Menos."

Ichigo questioned Ishida with a confused look on his face, as the Quincy briefly explained the different classes of hollow while they continued to fight. All of a sudden, a huge ball of energy was gathering from the Menos' mouth, ready to strike the two and everything within the vicinity with a Cero. The two had a look of fear, waiting for the inevitable to happen, when sounds of attacks of destruction happened around them, distracting and killing the hollows they were being surrounded by. The two turned to see everybody from the Urahara shop, armed and fighting, including Jinta who was waving his bat around like he was surrounded by piñatas, and Yoruichi, who seemed to be waving with a smile on her face to something above them.

The two turned to the direction that she was looking in, and saw Yuuki transformed who simply blocked the Cero fired by the Menos with one hand with ease. As he was freefalling, he looked down at the two and yelled, "Are you two going to finish it off, or do I have to do it for you while you gawk?" With that, the two snapped out of their stupor and fired an attack each with the last of their energy, destroying the Menos.

After Yuuki landed from the freefall next to the Urahara Shop's residents, the others walked and gathered around them as well, including Inoue and Chad, who just arrived after the clones showed and brought them here. Kisuke whipped open his fan and asked Yuuki in a calm tone, "So, it's begun, hasn't it?" Yuuki replied grimly, "It seems so, a lot sooner than I thought too. They'll make their move soon."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters but my original character. The rest of them all belong to Kubo Tite. Bleach © Kubo Tite.**

**King's Knight**

_Author's Note : Hey, back again. Not as much to say this time, except to respond to a PM by Wolfbane420. I appreciate your advice, but I've already been using both Wikipedia and YouTube. There simply just isn't enough information from them or the anime / manga to my liking. That said, I'm not totally shut out to introducing the Vizard ladies, but it'll go more slowly. Not a big deal at this point anyway, since we're arcs away from even introducing any Vizard besides our hero himself. With that out of the way, here's chapter 6. Continue to R & R, thanks!_

**Chapter 6 : Ambush by the 6****th**** Squad, Survival Training, Nimu (Mission) : Bring Rukia Back!**

Rukia and Ichigo were taking a walk together home in the evening, after a long conversation with the others at the Urahara Shop. Rukia was worried that her time in the living world would soon be up, and Ichigo reassured her that he won't let it happen. The others weren't as sure, but agreed to do what they could to help. Yuuki also advised the two to stay together at all times, in case somebody showed up to take her, and flare their reiatsu if something were to happen, which should be no problem considering what an energy beacon Ichigo was anyway.

As the two were walking along holding hands, a voice was heard from above them, "Kuchiki Rukia… we found you." The two immediately jumped back as two figures in shinigami clothes appeared before them from above. One of them was a man with red hair and a white headband, partially covering the tattoos on his forehead. The other man had longer black hair, with hair clips to the right side of his head and a few on the hair partially covering the left side of his face. He spoke, "Kuchiki Rukia, by the orders of Central 46 Chambers, you're here by under arrest and are to return to Soul Society effective immediately."

Rukia softly spoke out, "Nii-sama…" Ichigo yelled out, "Don't make me laugh! Rukia's staying right here with me! With us! You have no right to arrest her! And you're her brother? Ha!" With that, he transformed into a shinigami, grabbing his zanpakuto and releasing his reiatsu.

The redhead took a step forward and said, "Pretty big zanpakuto you have there. You must be the human that took Rukia's powers huh? I'll kill you first, then finish her off once the powers returns to her." With that, the two charged forward as their blades began to clash. Rukia yelled out for her boyfriend to stop, which was of course ignored as the fight continued.

Meanwhile, as the others sensed the reiatsu spike of Ichigo, they turned their heads up and began to run out. Yuuki immediately transformed, ran out the door to meet Inoue, and picked her up as he shunpoed towards the direction the shinigami daigo's energy was coming from. As they moved, he thought, 'Please, hang in there until I arrive. Don't let me be late for once…'

Meanwhile, the fight was not going well for our hero. After getting beaten to within an inch of his life by Byakuya, the gate to Soul Society was opening when suddenly two figures arrived. Inoue ran off to treat her love while in tears the moment she saw the shape he was in. Yuuki suddenly let his energy flare, yelled out, "You self-righteous bastards! Hanase (Let go of her)!" and charged towards the gate, surprising the shinigami at the sudden show of power. It was too late however, as the gate closed and disappeared, leaving an infuriated Yuuki. At the same time, our hero slowly passed out, realizing that he was saved again, unable to do anything as the last thing he heard was Inoue's muffled cries of concern.

Ichigo woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling, the first thing he saw was the big man Tessai lying on top of him, to which he immediately freaked out and kicked off to the wall. Said man called for Kisuke. Ichigo sat up, suddenly clutching his shoulder in pain, realizing that he didn't die yet. Kisuke entered the room, along with everybody else after Inoue ran in first and embraced him as she cried, glad that he was all right. Only after he cried out in slight pain did she release the hold and sat back.

Ichigo asked the man in green with a dejected tone, "So did you save me?" Kisuke replied, "Actually Yuuki-san and Inoue-san did. Why? You sound like you didn't want to be saved." The young man kept silent, and Inoue looked at him with concern. He then slammed his fist down to the mat and exclaimed, "Damn it! I couldn't do anything but look as they took her away! If only there's a way to go to this Soul Society and get her back!"

Kisuke spoke, "There is a way, but I will only tell you after you train for 10 days with me." Ichigo said that's there's no time. Yuuki socked him one in the head and said, "You moron! If you go in your condition now, you'll die before you even reach her! Do as he says, we have a month's time before the execution. We'll make it. I'll train the others in the meantime too, now what do you say?" The others nodded, but Ishida declined, saying that he'll train on his own. As he stood up to leave, Yuuki asked, "You sure? I do know some things about Quincys you know, even though my mom never taught me anything." Ishida just nodded and left.

Kisuke then said, "Are you prepared for the possibility that you'll die?" Ichigo scoffed at the question and said, "That's a stupid question. Of course!"

Inoue nearly teared up at hearing that, and Yuuki turned to Kisuke and spoke, "You're not going to use THAT method, are you?" Kisuke responded, "If he wants his power back, it's the only way." Yuuki nodded with a grim look on his face, leaving the teenagers wondering what they were talking about. He then spoke, "Well let's go home for the day, since we're all tired. Training starts tomorrow folks, we have 10 days to get you strong enough to save Rukia. We don't have room for mistakes, so you'd better be ready. Now let's get out of here! Oh and Ichigo, tell your family about this. Going off to save your girlfriend's kind of not something to fib about." The others nodded, and they got up and went their separate ways, with the exception of Inoue, who insisted on staying at Ichigo's home for the night.

When they went back to school, Ichigo noticed that it was nobody besides himself and his friends who gained special powers remembered that Rukia was here at all. Seeing that made him even more resolute, as he wouldn't let some paper-pusher who never even met her decide her fate, not if he could help it. Explaining things to his family wasn't that difficult, it was getting Yuzu to stop crying that was the problem. Isshin simply told him to do his best, then he dragged the two kids off, saying that they should sleep together, only for Karin to shove a roll of newspaper that she was reading into his mouth. When asked by their friends at school to do something together during the upcoming vacation time, they all politely declined, only saying that they had plans.

Meanwhile, Rukia was in a cell, talking to Renji. He kidded around with her about her execution, saying that Kuchiki-taicho would no doubt be requesting her sentence to be reduced. Rukia disagreed however, as she talked about how he never cared about her since she was adopted.

Later that same day, the gang arrived at the Urahara Shop to begin their training, with the exception of Ishida. Ichigo was led off by Urahara to the basement, his coworkers going along with him. That left Inoue and Chad with Yuuki. The shinigami spoke, "All right, hat man has things covered with Ichigo, so don't worry about him. For these next 10 days we're going to whip you two into fighting shape. That especially goes for you Inoue-san, so don't give me that 'I'm not strong enough' speech again."

Chad looked at the figure next to Yuuki and pointed, asking, "What do you mean 'we'? You don't mean this neko here is going to train us, do you?" Said neko retorted in a deep voice, "Hey, this neko has a name you know. It's Yoruichi, and don't you forget it!" Chad jumped back in surprise that a neko was talking, while Inoue exclaimed, "A talking neko, how cute!" After that, she grabbed Yoruichi and started cuddling with it, making the others sweatdrop.

Yuuki coughed into his hand, getting Inoue to snap out her silly phase and put Yoruichi down. He then spoke, "Right. Anyway, Inoue-san, you saw those two that took Rukia right?" Images of the two shinigami flashed across her mind, and said girl nodded. He continued, "At your current level, you're no match for them, because they were each a taicho and fukutaicho. You can only fight simple hollows as you are now, and I won't accept that. Ichigo barely made it through a confrontation last time, and he's the strongest one out of you. So we'll kick things up a notch until you can at least fight a fukutaicho and be able to hold you own, since there's no telling who we'll run into over there. I'll start, then Yoruichi will take over when I think about half your reiatsu's gone. Now let's go." With that, they went off to another training area, strangely enough led by the neko.

Meanwhile in Soul Society, Rukia's brother showed up in front of the girl's cell and spoke in a cold tone that she was to be executed in 25 days. Renji was shocked by his words, while Rukia remained silent, believing that crying would be a weakness of the heart. Byakuya left the room the cell was in and ran into two men in taicho outfits. The shorter taicho with the face like a fox praised Byakuya for being able to condemn his own sibling without so much as a wink. The taller of the duo with spiky hair and an eye patch covering his right eye then remarked that only the shorter taicho standing next to him and that of the 9th Squad.

Byakuya asked what Zaraki Kenpachi (taller man) and Ichimaru Gin (the other one) wanted, since taichos had no official business here without their fukutaichos with them. Kenpachi offered to behead Rukia himself, and a fight nearly broke out between him and Byakuya after some heated words. The next thing we saw was Gin on the roof with Kenpachi wrapped up. He apologized and promptly left with Kenpachi.

Back to our heroes, Ichigo has just completed the crazy lessons that Kisuke gave him, finally back in shinigami form with a complete zanpakuto, having learned its name. At that same time, Ishida was breathing a bit hard as smoke came out of his right hand, revealing a blue and white glove, with his only word, "It's finally ready." Meanwhile, Chad fell down into a sitting position and rolled down the stairs from where he was, with Inoue chasing after him. Yuuki sweatdropped and asked Yoruichi, "Just whose bright idea was it to bring them to train in the middle of a building?" Said neko retorted with a vein showing on its head, "Urusai (Shut up)."

After the others were dismissed from training, they all went to watch the fireworks for the respective holiday coming up. Yuuki was hesitant to let Inoue and Chad go, but he then shrugged, saying that all work and no play's not his style anyway, plus he could train himself to get some rust off his skills as well. The night when the fireworks showed, Inoue subtly told Tatsuki that she needed to do something, and her best friend made her promise to give her best at it and return safely.

The next morning, right before Ichigo left his house, Isshin gave him the usual greeting, again ended with the father planted instead. After the comedic moment, he simply gave his son a good luck charm, saying that it was from his mother to him, and now, "Think of it as a gift from her to you." With a nod, Ichigo took it and was off to the Urahara Shop, where everybody else was already waiting.

He looked at the gate that would take them through to Soul Society. Standing by the gate were his friends. He stopped the black neko standing by Yuuki and asked the shinigami while pointing at it, "This neko's going to come with us? What is he your pet Yuuki?"

Kisuke answered his question in a jovial tone, "My my Kurosaki-san, you mustn't be so rude to your guide." Said guide spoke, "That's right, and I have a name, and it's Yoruichi, so show some respect!" Ichigo jumped back in surprise as he exclaimed, "This neko just talked back to me!"

Kisuke then proceeded to explain how the gate worked and how they only had four minutes to get through to Soul Society. Inoue asked how they would make it in such a short time, and Yuuki spoke in an annoyed tone, "Stop with the questions already. Just run as quickly as you feet would take you. We'll make it." With that, Kisuke opened the gate, and the gang disappeared through it.

With the suddenly opening of a gate, warnings were ringing through the Seireitei, making everyone inside wonder what was going on. Meanwhile, as our heroes kept running in the tunnel between the two worlds, they were seemingly chased by the walls around them. Ichigo was cursing about their luck, and Yoruichi warned them about the walls themselves called the Capturing Flow, telling them to move it. Ishida got caught by the back of his jacket right as that was said. Ichigo was going to whip out his zanpakuto, but was warned by the neko that doing so would make the same thing happen to him. Hearing that, Chad just ripped part of Ishida's jacket off and continued to run while carrying him, ignoring the Quincy's protests.

As if things couldn't get any worse, a train-like object called the Capturing Thrust showed up, which was only supposed to appear only once per week. Yuuki was cursing that he couldn't use his speed here, right when they were being chased by something even faster. As a last resort, Inoue turned around and activated her Santen Kesshun, clashing against the force of the Capturing Thrust, the force of the friction pushed them through the exit to the other side just in time. Unfortunately, the exit to Soul Society was in the middle of the air, so they ended up free-falling like comets, resulting in a loud crash. When the dust cleared, everybody was kissing dirt, with the exception of Yuuki, who somehow landed on his feet, holding Yoruichi in his hand.

Inoue got up first and complimented Ichigo's landing pose, who retorted as if she was being sarcastic, not that she noticed. Ishida then said that it was some ride, then actually took out a spare jacket, making the guys sweatdrop. Yoruichi, finally out of her daze, her tail still stinging, tackled Inoue in the face and scolded her for using reiatsu inside the tunnel against her advice, adding that she would be dead if one of her fairies touched the thrust rather than the shield, she would've been dead. Said girl had her head down as she apologized. Ichigo immediately defended his girlfriend, and Yoruichi retorted that they weren't taking things seriously. Not listening to the two argue, the others began to glance around, to the place that seemed like a normal town.

Yuuki proceeded to explain that the area they were in was called the Rukongai (Wandering Soul Town), where souls normally first arrive in Soul Society. Hearing how the somewhat normal place was actually the poorer section, Ichigo kept looking until he saw an area that looked completely new and ran towards it, ignoring the others' words of warning to stop. His haste was met as what appeared to be pieces of a wall began to plummet from the sky, creating a barrier between the Rukongai and what was supposed to be the Seireitei. As the dust settled, Ichigo stopped coughing and saw a huge shadow that came with a deep voice, "It's been a while since somebody tried to go through the Gate of Pure Spirits (Gate of the White Way) without a pass."

The dust cleared and the shinigami daigo saw a huge man that resembled an ape, with a purple hat and holding an axe-like weapon, probably his zanpakuto. The shinigami on the other side of the wall commented that things were fine if the ryoka (unguided souls) arrived to Soul Society over the wall, they were fine, since Jidanbou, the man guarding the gate, would handle it. Said man took a glance at Ichigo smashed the ground with his weapon and commented, "I hope you can entertain me, little boy. Now come at me!"

Ishida asked who the man was, which Yoruichi explained to be a hero chosen to guard one of the four gates, like the one in front of them. Yuuki mentioned the man's impressive track record of no breach in three centuries and outrageous physical strength, making the Quincy wonder how they could beat him. The obvious answer would be to make a plan, which the neko was about to suggest, but Inoue and Chad ran ahead like idiots anyway to help their unspoken leader. Yoruichi was freaking out, and Yuuki commented calmly, "Eh relax, just look."

Yoruichi and Ishida did so, as the two who just ran in blindly were stopped by a single blow by Jidanbou to the ground, creating a small barricade. He then proceeded to explain some lame rules, including the one about one-on-one duels. Said teenagers were going in with Ishida anyway, but were stopped by Ichigo's request. They were hesitant to agree, but hearing that he was training the whole time during the 10 days fighting 'sandal-hat' not unlike Yuuki, they complied and let him give it a try. Yuuki, who stood back with Yoruichi, smirked at his words and thought, 'Show me what sandal-hat taught you Ichigo.'

Jidanbou asked Ichigo if they were finished talking, to which he retorted that he didn't ask the big man to wait. Saying that he lacked manners like his friends, the giant made his first attack, only to find it blocked. Ichigo spoke with a smirk, "Attacking before I'm ready... now who's the one with no manners?"

Said man laughed heartily at his comment, the air coming out his mouth nearly blowing Ichigo off his feet. He then mentioned that he was one of the three whoever blocked his first strike, but none has yet to block his second. With that, he struck without holding back, only to find that Ichigo held his own again. Impressed that the young man was still able to fight, he began to strike repeatedly, calling it the Ten-Jidan Hit Festival. Each hit caused rubble to fly around in huge chunks, with the last blow cutting the barricade to the others in half. When the dust cleared however, to Jidanbou's shock and Ichigo's friends' relief, said man blocked each hit with a calm face, as if the strikes were nothing.

Desperate to win, the big man brought out a second axe and he began to strain himself, skin turning red and veins showing, armor on his left arm breaking off to pieces. He called out his supposed ultimate attack, dubbed Ten-Thousand-Year Jidan-Hit Festival and attacked Ichigo with both axes. The young man calmly apologized for having to cut the axes, and he struck.

With one flash of an attack, it was over. The strike from Ichigo's blade knocked broke both axes but their handles to pieces and sent Jidanbou sailing, actually off his feet and into the gate in a loud crash. The others looked shocked at what just happened. Jidanbou was a bit slow however, and kept bragging until he saw what happened to his weapons. He then started crying of all things, causing the others to sweatdrop. Once Ichigo apologized to get him to stop crying, he got up and admitted defeat in an overdramatic fashion, stating that the shinigami daigo was the first man to defeat him, so he gave his blessing for the group to pass through the gate.

At an impressive show of strength, Jidanbou lifted the gate in one go, granted the man showed some strain on his face. They were about to go through, but Ichigo stopped at the big man's silence and asked him what was wrong, only to see a look of shock and fear on his face. The group turned to see Gin, whom Jidanbou muttered to be the 3rd Squad taicho. Said man had the same annoying foxy smile on his face, while Yuuki stared at him with a look of anger, hand turned into a fist gripping tightly.


End file.
